The Empire of Glass
The city pulsed beneath the midnight sky, drenched in gold and neon. From the top floor of the Aurelia Group's headquarters, Elena Valeria looked down on the empire she had carved out of nothing but iron will and unyielding ambition.
Born into royalty, she had been destined for a gilded cage, a princess meant to smile behind glass walls while men ruled in her name. But Elena had torn apart that destiny with diamond sharp claws. She had traded her tiara for tailored suits, the palace's suffocating traditions for skyscrapers of steel and glass.
At thirty, she was the youngest CEO to command a trillion dollar empire, her influence stretching across finance, media, and technology. The world whispered her name with awe and envy Elena Valeria, the Iron Princess.
But power was lonely. And loneliness had a way of growing fangs.
The boardroom was silent except for the ticking of her diamond watch. Contracts were neatly stacked on the table, ready for her signature. Another deal, another conquest. The skyline glittered through the floor-to-ceiling windows, a thousand stars trapped beneath her feet.
Then the door opened.
A man entered without permission, his presence dark enough to eclipse the city lights. He wore a suit blacker than midnight, his tall frame moving with the grace of a predator that had never once stumbled. His hair was raven-dark, his face carved with cruel perfection, and his eyes his eyes were embers burning in a dying fire, crimson flickering at their depths.
Elena stilled.Every instinct in her screamed danger.
"Miss Valeria," he said, his voice smooth, a velvet blade that slid past her guard. "The woman who built an empire faster than kings build kingdoms."
His lips curved, as if he mocked her. Or perhaps admired her. Elena could not tell, and she hated not knowing.
She straightened in her chair, her heels clicking against the marble floor as she rose to face him. "Who are you? This floor is restricted."
He tilted his head slightly, as though amused by her attempt at authority. "Names are unnecessary. But if you must, call me Lucien."
Lucien. The name rolled off his tongue like forbidden wine.
Elena narrowed her gaze. "And what business do you have here, Lucien?"
"Business?" He chuckled, low and dark, sending a shiver down her spine. "I am not here for your empire. I am here for you."
Her jaw tightened. She had dealt with arrogant men before billionaires, princes, kings. All of them thought they could buy her, bend her, claim her. She had crushed them all.
But Lucien was different.His presence was suffocating, his aura heavy as though centuries clung to his skin.
Then, under the moonlight streaming through the glass, she saw them fangs glinting briefly when he smiled.
Her blood froze.
"A vampire," she whispered.
Lucien's smile widened, revealing the predator she had glimpsed. "Ah. So the princess remembers the old stories."
Princess. The word struck her like lightning, dragging up half-forgotten memories: her childhood in the palace, the warnings whispered by old maids, the forbidden tales of curses hidden in her bloodline.
But those were fairy tales. Weren't they?
Elena masked her racing heartbeat with steel composure. "If you've come to frighten me, you'll be disappointed."
Lucien stepped closer, his presence filling the room. Shadows seemed to coil around him, bending toward his will. "Frighten you? No, Elena. I came to awaken you."
He reached for her wrist. His fingers were cold as ice when they brushed her skin, and a jolt of electricity shot through her veins. For the first time in years, Elena Valeria felt powerless.
The boardroom air thickened, pressing against Elena's chest as Lucien's icy touch lingered on her wrist. Her instinct screamed at her to pull away, yet something primal something older than reason kept her frozen in place.
A hum reverberated through the glass walls. Not from the building, not from the city below but from the sky itself.
Elena turned her head toward the floor-to-ceiling windows, and her heart stuttered.
The moon had changed.
What had been a pale, silvery orb just moments ago was now drenched in crimson, glowing like a bleeding heart in the heavens. The light poured into the room, staining everything in shades of scarlet. The contracts on the table, the polished marble floor, even her diamond watch seemed bathed in blood.
Elena's breath caught. She remembered a story.A story her governess whispered to her at five years old, long before she became CEO, long before she abandoned crowns and castles.
When the blood moon rises, the cursed princess will meet her shadow.
"Elena," Lucien murmured, his voice far too intimate, as if he had plucked the memory from her mind. "Do you feel it? The calling?"
Her eyes snapped back to him. "What game are you playing?"
"No game," he said softly. His hand lifted from her wrist, but his gaze held her as though shackles had been forged between them. "Your blood sings tonight. You have hidden behind steel towers and golden thrones, pretending to be nothing but human. But you are not."
Her chest tightened. She wanted to scoff, to laugh at him like she did at men who underestimated her, but the words stuck in her throat. Because deep down, she remembered.
She remembered fainting under the same blood moon at thirteen, waking to whispers of a curse. She remembered her father's face, pale with fear, ordering the palace healers never to speak of it again.
"Elena Valeria," Lucien continued, stepping closer until the faint scent of smoke and ancient earth clung to her senses. "You are no ordinary princess. Your blood is bound to mine."
Her hand curled into a fist. "You're insane."
He chuckled, low and dangerous. "Am I? Tell me, have you never wondered why men twice your age fall at your feet? Why your empire grows with unnatural speed? Why you have survived assassination attempts that should have killed you?"
Her pulse quickened. Memories surged gunshots, explosions, betrayals. She had faced them all. Survived them all. But not because of luck. Not entirely.
"Coincidence," she bit out, her voice colder than the glass around them.
Lucien leaned close, so close she could see the flicker of hunger in his ember-red eyes. "Call it what you will. But tonight, the curse awakens."
As if to prove his words, the entire building trembled.
Elena staggered, gripping the edge of the table. Lights flickered. The contracts on the polished wood scattered like fallen leaves.
Outside, the blood moon blazed brighter, and from the shadows of the city below, figures began to move dark, unnatural shapes slithering up the walls of the skyscraper like living shadows.
"What the hell" Elena began.
Lucien's eyes hardened. "They've come for you."
The glass wall behind him cracked with a sharp CRACK! as if struck by an invisible fist. A fissure spread across the surface, webbing like broken ice.
Elena's rational mind screamed to call security, to summon her private guards. But something in her gut told her men with guns would not survive this.
"Who are they?" she demanded.
Lucien's fangs glinted under the red light. "Hunters. Shadows. Creatures who crave the blood of cursed royalty."
Her stomach lurched. "You mean me."
"Yes," he said. "You."
The glass shattered.
A gust of icy wind roared into the boardroom as the first shadow-creature crawled through the broken pane. Its form was twisted, humanoid but faceless, its body made of swirling black smoke with claws like blades. More followed, slipping through the cracks of reality itself, their shrieks piercing the night.
Elena's heart hammered. For the first time in years, she felt real fear—not of failure, not of loneliness, but of death.
Lucien stepped in front of her, his voice low and commanding. "Stay behind me, Princess."
"I don't take orders," she hissed.
"Then consider this a suggestion," he said and his body blurred.
One second he was there, the next he was a streak of shadow. His hand, tipped with claws, ripped through the nearest creature. Smoke exploded in a burst of darkness as the monster dissolved into nothing.
Elena could barely follow his movements. He was faster than sight, stronger than anything human. Each strike was lethal, each motion graceful as if centuries of battle had been carved into his very bones.
And yet despite his power the creatures kept coming.
The boardroom, her pristine sanctuary of glass and steel, became a battlefield of shrieks and shadows. Elena grabbed a shard of glass from the table's edge, clutching it like a dagger. Her empire had taught her one thing: never wait to be saved.
When a shadow lunged at her, she slashed. The shard cut through its smoky flesh, and to her shock, the creature screamed, recoiling as though burned.
Lucien appeared at her side, crimson eyes flashing. For a moment, he looked at her not with condescension, but with recognition.
"Yes," he whispered. "Awakening."
Another creature leapt, and Lucien struck it down with his claws. Blood black and unnatural splattered across Elena's white silk blouse. She barely flinched.
Adrenaline surged. She fought, slashing with her improvised blade, every instinct screaming to survive. Each strike felt guided by something beyond her, a rhythm that was not entirely her own.
When the last shadow dissolved into mist, silence fell. The boardroom was ruined glass shattered, marble cracked, blood moonlight painting the devastation in scarlet.
Elena's chest heaved. Her hand trembled around the shard of glass.
Lucien turned to her, his suit torn, a streak of dark blood across his jaw. His eyes burned brighter than ever.
"You see now," he said, voice roughened with battle. "You are not ordinary. You are bound to this."
Elena dropped the shard. It clattered to the floor.
"What am I?" she whispered.
The silence that followed the battle was deafening.
The boardroom that once echoed with the quiet efficiency of power now reeked of smoke and blood. Shattered glass crunched beneath Elena's heels as she moved, her breath uneven. The contracts those perfect stacks of paper she had once cared about more than her own heart lay scattered, useless.
And yet, as she looked around the wreckage, she felt something terrifying.Not despair.Not helplessness.But exhilaration.
Her blood still sang with the thrill of survival. Her body hummed with an unfamiliar strength, as if every vein carried fire instead of blood.
Lucien wiped the black streak from his jaw with the back of his hand, his crimson gaze never leaving her. "Do you feel it?"
Elena straightened, adjusting her blouse though it was stained with blood and ash. "I feel nothing."
"Liar." He took a step toward her. The broken glass at his feet did not even pierce his polished shoes. "You feel alive. More alive than you have in years."
She swallowed, hating that he was right. "And if I do? What of it?"
Lucien stopped before her, close enough that the heat of battle still clung to him, a mingling of smoke, blood, and something darker, something older. His voice dropped to a low murmur that curled around her like silk.
"Join me."
Her brows arched. "Join you? You expect me to follow some stranger who broke into my building, brought monsters to my doorstep, and calls himself a vampire?"
He smiled faintly, sharp and dangerous. "I did not bring them. They came because of you. Your blood called to them."
Elena's stomach twisted, but she refused to flinch. "Then I will deal with them myself. I don't need you."
Lucien leaned closer, his words brushing against her skin like a forbidden caress. "Do you think glass towers and armed guards can stop what hunts you? Do you think contracts and money can silence the curse bound to your veins?"
Her nails dug into her palm. She hated him hated the way he spoke as if he knew her better than she knew herself. But what she hated more was the flicker of fear crawling up her spine.
Lucien's hand moved slowly, deliberately and caught her wrist again. His touch was cold, unnaturally so, but steady. Her pulse hammered beneath his grip, traitorous in its rhythm.
"Your ancestors bound themselves to powers they did not understand," he said. "You carry the weight of that bargain. And tonight, the moon calls it due."
Elena yanked her hand free, her eyes narrowing. "And what do you gain if I believe you?"
Lucien's smile deepened, but it was not the smile of a businessman closing a deal. It was the smile of a predator that had cornered his prey and perhaps, a lover savoring the anticipation of a first kiss.
"You," he whispered. "Only you."
The words hit her harder than she expected. Her empire had made her desired, feared, admired but never wanted. Not like this. Not in a way that stripped away titles and power and left only her name.
She exhaled slowly, fighting to steady her voice. "If I refused you if I told you to leave and never return what would you do?"
Lucien's gaze darkened, the crimson in his eyes glowing like coals fanned by flame. "I would wait. I have waited longer than you can imagine. But understand this, Elena Valeria whether you stand at my side willingly or not, the world will not allow you to remain as you are. The curse will devour you. Or I will teach you to wield it."
The floor trembled again, faintly this time, like a warning. Far below, sirens began to wail in the streets. Perhaps security forces had noticed the disturbance, but Elena knew instinctively that they were not the answer.
She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly aware of the blood drying against her blouse, the shard of glass she had dropped lying forgotten on the floor.
Her world her perfect empire had shattered in a single night. And the man before her was the only one who seemed to understand why.
Her lips parted. "Why me? Why now?"
Lucien's expression softened, just barely, as if he glimpsed the child still buried beneath the armor she wore. "Because fate is cruel, Princess. And because tomorrow may never come."
The words lingered in the air, heavy, dangerous, intimate.
Elena forced herself to meet his gaze, to stand tall even as her heart raced. "If I agree if I even consider your… offer what happens next?"
Lucien's grin revealed the faintest edge of fang. "Then, Elena Valeria, the real game begins."
And before she could demand more, the lights shattered overhead.
A new shadow fell across the broken boardroom heavier, colder, far more lethal than the creatures they had just fought.
Lucien's body shifted instantly, placing himself between Elena and the darkness, his hand reaching behind him as though to shield her.
Her empire had taught her never to rely on anyone. But as the temperature dropped and the red moonlight deepened, Elena realized something terrifying.
The temperature plummeted as the lights exploded overhead, plunging the boardroom into crimson moonlight and shadow.
Elena's breath fogged in the sudden chill. Her instincts, honed from years of business warfare, screamed at her to run but there was nowhere to go. The broken wall gaped open to the night, the city sprawling far below.
Something emerged from that endless dark.
Not like the shadow creatures before mindless, formless things. This one had a shape, a presence. A tall figure draped in tattered robes of black, a crown of twisted bone upon his head. His face was pale as marble, eyes like pits of endless void.
Elena's knees nearly buckled. This was no intruder. This was something ancient.
Lucien's entire body tensed, every line of his frame sharp with aggression. "Stay behind me."
Elena's pride flared. "I told you I don't take orders."
"Then take survival as one," he snapped, his voice harsher than before.
The crowned figure stepped fully into the ruined boardroom, shadows writhing like serpents at his feet. When he spoke, the sound was hollow, as though a thousand dead voices echoed inside him.
"Daughter of Valeria," the figure intoned. "The blood moon calls you. Surrender, and your end will be merciful."
Elena's spine stiffened. No one told her to surrender. Not in business. Not in life. Not now. "Who the hell are you?"
The figure's void-black eyes turned to her. She felt as though they pierced into her soul, stripping away her armor, her empire, her power until she was nothing but a trembling child in a palace corridor again.
Lucien stepped forward, placing himself squarely between her and the intruder. His voice was low, lethal. "You should not have come here."
The crowned figure's smile was skeletal. "And you should not have defied me, Lucien."
Elena's eyes widened. "You know him?"
Lucien didn't glance back. "Later."
The shadow king's laughter rattled the glass shards still clinging to the frame of the broken window. "Did you think you could hide her forever? The cursed princess belongs to me."
Elena's temper snapped. "I belong to no one."
For the first time, the shadow king looked surprised. Then his grin widened. "Fire. Just like her bloodline promised. Very well, princess. Let me test your defiance."
The shadows at his feet writhed upward, forming into massive serpents of black smoke. They lunged, striking with venomous speed.
Lucien moved faster. His claws tore through one serpent, but two more snapped at him, forcing him back.
Another serpent struck toward Elena. She grabbed the nearest thing a broken chair leg and swung with every ounce of strength in her body. To her shock, the strike landed solid, the serpent recoiling with a screech as though burned.
Her heart pounded. This was no coincidence.She had power. Power she didn't understand.
"Elena!" Lucien's shout dragged her back. He was fighting two serpents at once, his movements blindingly fast, but even he was straining against their endless shadows.
Another serpent lunged at her. Without thinking, she raised her hand empty. And yet, as if answering her will, fire ignited at her fingertips, searing through the air.
The serpent shrieked, its form unraveling into smoke.
Elena gasped, staring at her own hand, trembling, flames dying against her palm. "What… what did I just"
Lucien's voice roared over the chaos. "You are awakening!"
The shadow king's eyes gleamed with cruel triumph. "Yes. Awaken, cursed princess. Awaken, so that you may kneel to me."
"Never," Elena spat, fire crackling faintly at her fingertips again.
Lucien tore through another serpent, his fangs bared. "She kneels to no one!"
The shadow king extended a hand, and the room itself seemed to collapse inward. Elena's knees buckled as gravity pressed down, shadows clawing at her from all sides. She fought to stay upright, the flames on her hand sputtering.
And then Lucien was there, his arm circling her waist, pulling her against him. His voice growled against her ear, fierce and unyielding.
"Listen to me. You are not just a princess. You are more. You are mine."
The words struck through her panic like lightning. Heat different from the flames flooded her chest. She clung to him without meaning to, his cold strength the only thing holding her against the crushing shadows.
Lucien's crimson gaze met hers for a single, blazing instant. Then he turned back to the shadow king, his voice a deadly vow.
"She will never be yours."
With a snarl, he unleashed a blast of power shadows exploding outward, fire igniting in Elena's palm again as if drawn by his strength. Together, predator and princess struck.
The shadow king staggered back, his form flickering. For the first time, his skeletal smile faltered.
"This is not over," he hissed, his form unraveling into smoke. "The blood moon has only begun."
And then he was gone, leaving only silence and the echo of his threat.
Elena collapsed against Lucien, her body trembling with exhaustion, flames extinguished. Her empire her perfect, untouchable world lay in ruins around her.
And yet, as Lucien's cold hand steadied her, his words still echoed in her ears.
You are not just a princess. You are mine.
Her heart betrayed her with a single, terrifying truth.For the first time in her life, Elena Valeria wasn't sure if she wanted to resist.